Main Document

Scientific Inquiry is an introductory undergraduate course for preservice elementary teachers that aims to engage students in authentic scientific practices where these practices are not viewed as a mere course requirement but are understood as essential practices for constructing knowledge in the discipline. Many of these practices (e.g., representational practices, control-of-variables) evolve over the course of the semester as we work to answer complex questions. However, we hoped to have students- from the start of the term- keep detailed scientific notebooks. We describe an activity designed to foster practices related to the use of scientific notebooks, detail how we use images from scientists' notebooks, discuss the rubrics students create for their own notebooks, and share outcomes, including images of students' notebooks and students' reactions to the activity.